Fused tungsten carbide (FWC) is, owing to its extreme wear resistance, a preferred material for components which are subjected to highly erosive and/or abrasive conditions, such as welded wear protection layers or drill bits for oil and gas exploration. The excellent wear resistance of fused tungsten carbide is based on its particular microstructure which is made up of alternating lamellae consisting of tungsten carbide (WC) and ditungsten carbide (W2C). Fused tungsten carbide is usually processed by infiltration with copper-based solders or welding by means of spontaneously flowing nickel-containing alloys. Owing to the processing by infiltration or by welding, the content of the metallic binder phase is usually 20-40% by weight. In comparison, the binder content (binder=Co or Ni) of commercial WC—Co or WC—Ni cemented hard materials is significantly lower at 3-15%. For the purposes of the present invention, a cemented hard material is a sintered component which essentially comprises a hard material, for example, a carbide such as tungsten carbide, and a metallic binder such as cobalt or nickel. Since the wear properties of FWC are superior to WC, a demand exists for fused tungsten carbide for making cemented hard materials having a significantly lower binder content of <20% industrially usable.
The reason for the lack of usability of fused tungsten carbides in cemented hard materials is essentially that:                a) the fused tungsten carbide particles are dissolved by diffusion in Co in the solid state and also in the liquid phase which arises during sintering and consists essentially of cobalt and/or nickel;        b) the advantageous lamellar structure is thermally/chemically transformed during the sintering process; and        c) the component cannot be sintered so as to be free of pores.        
DE 199 24 683 C2 describes the use of fused tungsten carbide in the head of a round-shaft chisel. In DE 199 24 683 C2, the chisel head is produced by infiltration and not by sintering.